'Unprecedented' Hartlepool child care costs lead to estimated £5.5m council budget overspend
Hartlepool Borough Council’s children’s services department is due to go more than £5.5m over budget due to “unprecedented” pressure.
A recent meeting heard the department is facing an estimated overspend of £5.52 million for the year, over £1m greater than at the end of June.
And finance chiefs warned the position as of the middle of November shows a “further potential deterioration.”
Overall, the council is facing an estimated overspend of £3.26 million with the position having worsened by around £1 million since the end of June, when a £2.375 million overspend was forecast.
Council chiefs noted children’s and joint commissioning services in particular are facing “unprecedented budget pressures” which is a “serious concern”, adding they are doing everything they can to try and address the issue.
A report to the latest meeting of the Finance and Corporate Affairs Committee noted the main reasons for the overspend continue to be the increase in the numbers and associated costs of children requiring external residential care placements.
Cllr Melanie Morley, chair of the Children’s Services Committee, stressed various steps have been taken over recent months to help address the overspend, and work is continuing.
She said: “We not only have a legal duty to look after our children, we also have a moral duty as well.”
Council leader, Labour’s Cllr Pamela Hargreaves, added: “Social care costs are killing us, not just us, just about every local authority in the country is suffering from the cost of social care.
“We are overspending at the moment and I know that every department and every section of every department is doing what they can to try and contribute to bringing that spend down.”
The number of children in the council’s care rose from 345 at the end of June to 352 at the end of September.
Reports noted the current top 25 highest cost external placements are around £230,000 per week, which equates to around £12 million per year.
They added the average cost of the current 49 external placements is £7,010 per week, with a range of £3,900 to £23,290 per week.
The meeting heard the overspend has associated impacts on social work staffing workloads and budgets and reflects the “increasing complexity of children’s needs” and significant fees charged by non-local authority care providers.